About HealthCodeRef
A free, fast reference for healthcare code sets and file formats, built for the people who look these things up all day: coders, billers, analysts, and developers.
Why it’s free
The lookups are free and need no account. A paid API for higher-volume use is planned but not available yet. Most of the data here is published by the US government, and it should be easy to search.
Where the data comes from
Every dataset, who maintains it, and when we last loaded it. NPI provider data is not stored here at all — it is queried live from the CMS NPPES registry.
| Dataset | Maintained by | How we use it | Last loaded |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes | CDC / NCHS | US government public domain. Loaded from the official annual release (FY2027). | Sep 14, 2026 |
| ICD-10-CM Tabular List notes | CDC / NCHS | US government public domain. Excludes, Code first, Use additional code, and 7th-character notes from the official Tabular List. | Sep 24, 2026 |
| ICD-10-CM Alphabetic Index | CDC / NCHS | US government public domain. Index to Diseases, External Cause Index, Table of Drugs and Chemicals, and Neoplasm Table. | — |
| HCPCS Level II | CMS | US government public domain. Dental (D-code) entries are excluded. | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Place of Service codes | CMS | US government public domain. | Sep 14, 2026 |
| HCPCS modifiers | CMS | Level II modifiers only. CPT modifiers are shown by number with no description. | Sep 15, 2026 |
| Provider taxonomy | NUCC | Code, grouping, classification, and specialization labels only. NUCC's definition text is not stored. | Sep 15, 2026 |
| CARC (adjustment reasons) | X12 | Code numbers from X12; every description, cause, and fix is original writing. | Sep 15, 2026 |
| RARC (remittance remarks) | CMS | Code numbers from CMS; every description is original writing. | Sep 15, 2026 |
| Revenue codes & Type of Bill | CMS manuals | Descriptions written from the public CMS Medicare Claims Processing Manual, not the AHA UB-04 manual. | Sep 15, 2026 |
| MS-DRG | CMS | US government public domain. Relative weights and average length of stay. | Sep 20, 2026 |
| CMS-HCC risk adjustment | CMS | US government public domain. Includes the ICD-10 to HCC crosswalk. | Sep 20, 2026 |
What we leave out on purpose
- CPT® descriptions. CPT is owned by the American Medical Association and requires a license. We reference CPT codes by number only.
- CDT® (dental) descriptions, owned by the American Dental Association.
- AHA UB-04 manual content and other publisher text. Where a code set overlaps, we write our own descriptions from public CMS guidance.
- Copied X12 and NUCC prose. Descriptions and explanations you see for CARC, RARC, and taxonomy are our own wording.
Your privacy
HealthCodeRef doesn’t handle patient information. The 837 and 835 viewers read your file entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded — and our code doesn’t save what you search for. Please don’t type patient identifiers into any search box.
HealthCodeRef is for reference only. Verify codes with authoritative sources before making clinical, coding, or billing decisions. See the changelog for recent updates.